(MEMPHIS) — A Missouri woman was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison on Tuesday for what prosecutors called a “brazen” attempt to fraudulently put Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate up for auction.
Lisa Findley, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Memphis, Tennessee, in February.
A federal judge sentenced her to 57 months in federal prison, with three years supervised probation, saying he wanted impress upon Findley the seriousness of her crime.
“It was brazen,” U.S. District Judge John Fowlkes told Findley at her sentencing at the federal courthouse in Memphis.
When asked by the judge if she had anything to say prior to being sentenced, Findley declined to speak.
No members of the Presley family were present at the sentencing hearing.
Findley has been in custody since her arrest in August 2024.
In the plea agreement, Findley admitted the government’s factual basis in the case is “true and accurate,” and that had the case gone to trial the evidence would have established her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
As part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss one count of aggravated identity theft that was previously filed against her.
The mail fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
In the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to recommend Findley be sentenced to 57 months in federal prison.
“There is a strong need to deter the defendant from future criminal conduct and to protect the public,” prosecutors wrote in a recent court filing, arguing a “substantial period of incarceration is appropriate.”
Federal prosecutors said Findley formulated a “brazen scheme” to try to “extort a settlement from the Presley family.”
“The defendant boldly attempted to extort funds from the estate of L.M.P. [Lisa Marie Presley] by the creation and filing of a false and fraudulent Deed of Trust,” they stated in the court filing.
As part of the scheme, prosecutors said Findley forged the signatures of Elvis Presley’s late daughter Lisa Marie and Florida notary Kimberly Philbrick in order to claim Lisa Marie Presley did not pay back a $3.8 million loan from a purported company called Naussany Investments that listed Graceland as collateral.
Naussany Investments, an unregistered entity that prosecutors said Findley was behind, filed public notices in May 2024 stating it would auction off Graceland at the front of the Shelby County Courthouse.
A Shelby County chancellor issued a temporary injunction at the eleventh hour that prevented such an auction from taking place, citing an affidavit from Philbrick that stated her signature was forged and she never met Lisa Marie Presley.
Philbrick spoke exclusively to ABC News, telling “Good Morning America” in August 2024 and “IMPACT x Nightline” in October 2024 that she never notarized anything for Lisa Marie Presley and has no idea how her name got involved in the scheme.
When Findley realized she was under investigation, prosecutors say she “attempted to deflect responsibility onto fictitious third persons.”
“Fortunately, the defendant’s scheme was unsuccessful,” prosecutors stated in the court filing.
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